Somewhat non-comic-related semi-rant

Folks who've read my blog for a while know that I'm not really a Serious Blogger. I love comic books, have ever since I was a little girl, and reading them is a hobby that's given me a lot of pleasure over the years. A fair number of my posts are of the "hey, this is so cool!" variety. Comics are my fun. (Well, one of my funs. :))

That, and the fact that I often go days without reading the rest of the comic blogoverse, means that I usually don't weigh in on a lot of controversial topics that make the rounds. For one thing, it's not my focus, and for another, more often than not by the time I get around to it, someone else has already said whatever I'd have said (and probably done a better job of it).

But I do want to say just a little something that's probably off the topic entirely, because it pushed one of my buttons. And I don't have a lot of buttons, so I don't often get this opportunity :).

I've considered myself a feminist ever since I first heard the word, which was probably during high school, so that's thirty-plus years. In fact, I know relatively few women in my age bracket who wouldn't call themselves feminists. That doesn't mean that it's a primary identifier (as in "Hi, I'm Brainfreeze and I'm a feminist.") or that feminism is the main filter they see the world through, or that they even think about it on a regular basis.

What I'm saying is that to tell someone who self-identifies as feminist that they are not a feminist is kind of presumptive. Because "feminism" isn't a clearly-defined entity. There are a wide variety of ways in which people can express their feminism.

You can be an old-school baseline "women and men should have the same opportunities" feminist, and still be a feminist.

You can have a primary activist focus that's something other than feminism and still be a feminist.

You can be a homemaker whose contribution to the family is entirely non-monetary and still be a feminist.

You can enjoy traditional pornography (or, I suppose, Tarot) and still be a feminist.

And if you are any of these things (among others), there will be people waiting in line to tell you that you are not a feminist.

And they'll be wrong.